Parasha: Vaera · Aliyah: Seventh (Malchut)

ועתה שלח העז את מקנך, "And now, send, and bring in your cattle, etc." You may well ask that if the Egyptians heeded Moses' warning, what effect would the forthcoming plague have? Remember, G'd's purpose in bringing plagues upon the Egyptians was not to inflict pain and suffering on them. The pain was only one way of demonstrating G'd's power. If this could be achieved by making the Egyptians obey, so much the better. At any rate, the crops would be destroyed by the hail even if there would be no deaths amongst the livestock. The Torah states specifically that both the grass and the trees were destroyed by the hail (9,24).

We still have to understand why G'd said: ועתה, "now," when He issued the warning. If the meaning was "immediately," then it is difficult to understand as the hail was not meant to occur until the following day at about the same time. Perhaps the warning had to emphasise that immediate action be taken as most of the cattle were grazing far from home and would not be able to find shelter at once.

We also need to understand to whom G'd addressed the advice to let the animals and people take shelter. Those who feared the word of G'd would do so immediately after they heard that there would be hail on the morrow. They did not need advice on that matter. The advice therefore was directed only at those Egyptians who did not yet fear the Lord. We therefore may interpret the call ועתה as a call to repentance. In fact Midrash Tehillim 100,2 claims that this expression always denotes repentance. G'd gave these people a chance to repent. When they failed to do so in spite of having been warned, G'd punished them.

ואשר לא שם לבו…ויעזב, and whoever paid no heed…left his cattle outdoors, etc. The extra letter ו in ויעזב, is to draw to our attention that those people who had up to now refused to heed G'd's warning added to their previous sin by continuing in their ways, deliberately exposing their livestock and servants to death by hail despite G'd's warning. Their obstinacy was such that though they could have saved their property by the simple expedient of bringing it indoors for a while, they defied G'd and did not do so. It is clear from the Torah's report that what motivated the Egyptians was not so much their economic need of the cheap labour that the Israelites represented and which made them refuse to liberate them, but their defiance of the Jewish G'd. Even those who doubted G'd's ability to orchestrate a plague of hail such as Moses had predicted preferred to demonstrate their defiance by risking their property. Perhaps the reason they took such a chance was that the previous six plagues had not been severe enough so that they did not believe that G'd could suddenly bring such a terrible plague.

ויהי ברד ואש, there was hail and fire simultaneously, etc. The word מתלקחת is used to inform us that though water and fires are opposites, one of which is bound to prevail over the other in any encounter, in this instance they demonstrated the ability to co-exist. This was possible since both were performing G'd's will by so doing.

והברד לא יהיה עוד, "and the hail will cease to be, etc." No new hail will fall, whereas the hail which had descended already will cease to be. Moses' promise was essentially what is described in verse 33, i.e. that the hail and rain stopped in mid-air. According to an aggadah in Berachot 54 the function of that hail which was arrested in mid-air was completed in the days of Joshua when the latter was engaged in the conquest of the land of Canaaan (Joshua 10,11) when hail stones fell on Israel's adversaries.

למען תדע, "so that you will realise, etc." Moses told Pharaoh that he did not pray for Pharaoh in order that he should release the Israelites from bondage, he did not believe Pharaoh's assurances. The only reason he prayed was so that Pharaoh would acquire greater respect for the power of G'd.

ואתה ועבדיך, "for both you as well as your servants, etc." Moses mentioned the servants because he saw that they too had not paid heed to G'd's warning and had left their livestock outdoors together with their shepherds. Should you query this by asking how did Moses know this, seeing the servants had accepted G'd's judgment when Pharaoh said: "G'd is righteous whereas I and my people are the evildoers," remember that I have explained that G'd had already revealed His intention to bring on the plague of killing the Egyptians' firstborn. He had also warned in 7,4 that Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron. As a result, Moses was entitled to consider all the protestations of Pharaoh that he addmitted being a sinner, etc. as being merely a maneuver to gain time. If Pharaoh and his servants had truly repented it is hardly likely that G'd would punish them by the plague of killing the firstborn. Moses was therefore on safe ground when he said that he knew that Pharaoh and his advisers were not yet G'd-fearing people.

ידעתי כי טרם חיראון, "I know you do not yet fear, etc." Moses meant that Pharaoh's fear of G'd lasted only as long as the latest plague had not yet been removed. As soon as they would experience relief they would continue in their rebellious ways against G'd as previously. Moses referred to previous examples of Pharaoh reneging on his promise to let the Israelites go as proof for his present lack of faith in Pharaohs protestations.

Moses made it plain that he did not consider that Pharaoh was deliberately being deceitful in trying to convince Moses that he should pray on his behalf; he was simply under psychological pressure at that time. This induced temporary fear of G'd in him and in his people. Moses wanted Pharaoh to know that he himself could read Pharaoh's mind, as Pharaoh would be the first to acknowledge. He added that even if Pharaoh were to try and prove that Moses was wrong in his prediction that he, Pharaoh, would renege after the hail had stopped, he would not be able to control his spirit sufficiently to keep his undertaking.

והפשתה והשעורה נכתה, both the flax and the barley were smitten, etc. Why did the Torah tell us of this detail before describing Moses as concluding his prayer? According to normal practice the Torah should have reported that Moses did as he had said, namely that he prayed to G'd for the plague to stop.

Perhaps the Torah wanted to provide us with a reason why the Egyptians had not really become penitent. Whereas the hail had destroyed the flax crop and the barley crop, it had not caused more than minimal damage to the wheat and the spelt which ripened at a later date. According to Midrash Tanchuma the reason that the Torah uses the letter ו in front of the word הפשתה where it could not possibly be understood as a conjunctive is that a miracle within a miracle happened so that only these two crops were smitten. Had nature taken its course, both the wheat and the spelt should also have succumbed to the hail. Basing themselves on the strange phenomenon that the wheat and spelt had escaped unharmed, Pharaoh and his servants concluded that G'd's authority did not include the wheat and the spelt. This encouraged them to continue in their obstinate ways. This is why Moses was able to say that he realised that Pharaoh had not yet come to fear G'd truly. He cited as the reason what happened to the wheat, or rather, what did not happen to the wheat. G'd had spared the wheat in order to encourage Pharaoh to remain obstinate.

וירא פרעה כי חדל המטר, Pharaoh saw that the rain had stopped, etc. The Torah mentions this to show that Pharaoh's repentance already evaporated; he continued to sin almost immediately. When the Torah reports him as ויוסף לחטא, "he continued to sin," this does not refer to his continuing on his previous path; it means that Pharaoh added additional sins to the ones he had committed already. He now made a commitment not to release the Israelites under any terms and conditions.